Which Is Better: Google Chrome Or Mozilla Firefox

It is a common sight to see both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox installed in the systems of the common internet user. Even if we take a count of the loyalists, we find that the number of users who swear by Chrome and the number who swear by Firefox are almost same. Thus, it would be an interesting task of deciding whether Chrome is better than Firefox or if the opposite is true. The deductions made below are based on the results of tests done under various conditions.

The websites that were used in the test are http://www.buzzle.com, http://www.apple.com, http://www.twitter.com, http://www.pinterest.com, and http://www.facebook.com. The browsers that were tested are Google Chrome Version 24.0.1312.56 m, Mozilla Firefox 17.0 and the system specifications of the machines were Windows Vista Business SP2 (32-bit), Intel Pentium E5200 2.50 Ghz, 2GB RAM. The tests led to the following results of the compared criteria.

Speed

When tested within limited number of open tabs, Chrome is the clear winner. Chrome is the fastest among all the web browsers. However, the speed of chrome is inversely proportional to the number of the tabs open. This can be a problem for the advanced user who has to work with 30 to 40 open tabs at a time. The page loading speed of Firefox however stays same irrespective of the number of tabs that are open.

Security

Chrome does not encrypt the passwords and thus is lesser secure to use than Firefox. Google Chrome also makes caches and shares the data online. Though this has never led to any issues in the past, the bigger corporate houses treat chrome with suspicion.

Reliability

In terms of reliability and performance, Chrome scores over Mozilla as there are fewer cases of crashes in Chrome than in Mozilla. In addition to this, Chrome runs each tab as separate process. This means that if one of the tab stops responding, the entire browser need not be restarted. On the other hand, even if one tab stops responding in Firefox, the user has to go through the inconvenience of restarting the entire browser. The test results revealed by RoboHornet put Chrome a few points ahead of Firefox. But the preference for Chrome or Firefox will depend on the user and the nature of work he is doing. Even if new users are concerned, the ones who want more speed and screen space will opt for Chrome while the ones who are working with data requiring security and are more comfortable with the traditional menus will opt for Firefox.